Biofuel crops grown on EU land obstacle to tackling climate change: T&E Report

Europe currently wastes land the size of Ireland on crops for biofuels which are an obstacle to tackling climate change and food security, a new study commissioned by Transport & Environment claims. The study says that this land could be used to feed 120 million people or, if given back to nature, could absorb twice as much CO2 as is supposedly saved by powering cars with biofuels. Using an area equivalent to just 2.5% of this land for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy.

The study claims land cultivated to grow crops for biofuels could be used to provide the calorie needs of at least 120 million people and that it would be more than enough to cover the 50 million people that the UN says are “in emergency or worse levels of acute food insecurity.” With world fertiliser prices sky-high and the UN-brokered deal that allowed shipments of grain out of Ukraine in the balance, the organisations call on European governments to prioritise food over fuel.